Stationary Hood Cold Weather Sleeping Bag

ABSTRACT

A mummy sleeping bag which allows the user to free his/her arms and upper torso while the hood and lower portion of the bag remains in place. This allows the user to complete tasks outside of the sleeping bag without completely exiting the bag through the hood end.

CROSS REFERENCES

not applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

not applicable

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

not applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a sleeping bag having an improved closure system.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art

A typical prior art mummy sleeping bag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,017, which is incorporated by reference. The traditional sleeping bag completely encloses the body of the user and has a closure means which typically is a zipper that ends near the user's neck or face and a “draw cord” to create a snug fit of the hood onto the user's head. A neck baffle is also provided which utilizes a second draw cord to create a seal around the user's neck in order to keep warm air in the main body of the bag. In addition, the zipper usually runs along one side of the bag with a short insulated baffle on the interior to prevent heat loss through said zipper. A disadvantage of this system is that when the user needs to perform a task outside of the sleeping bag, the user must first loosen the hood and neck baffle, and then undo the zipper to provide an exit opening. In addition, the draw-cord controlled baffle found on most bags is only partly effective in slowing heat loss through the zipper and may rub on the user's neck or chin and cause irritation.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides in a sleeping bag having a hood closure system, a novel closure system which comprises an extended exterior flap having a hand engaging means on an interior wall for grasping the exterior flap and allowing it to be placed over a longitudinally positioned zipper closure where said extended exterior flap is held in place by a hook and eye closure system. The hook and eye closure system is placed in close proximity to the head end of the bag where a hood is positioned in order to allow the sleeping bag to remain in place on the users head. A second optional hand engaging means is placed on the interior wall of the sleeping bag adjacent to the zipper to provide a gripping surface to hold the sleeping bag wall in position when the extended flap is placed over the zipper and placed in contact with the hook and eye closure system.

In operation, the hand engaging means on the extended exterior flap allows the user to pull the extended exterior flap over the zipper and attach the extended exterior flap to the hook and eye closure system while simultaneously adjusting the snugness of the closure to accommodate the user's body shape. This allows the user to open only the extended exterior flap and perform tasks outside of the sleeping bag without fully exiting it. In addition, the snug fit achieved with this system eliminates the need for the partially effective draw cord controlled neck baffle found on current bags. The zipper itself is located at the inside edge of an overlaid section of the bag, effectively becoming insulated from outside air, and solving the problem of insufficient baffles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a top plan view of the fully closed sleeping bag at rest on the ground. Internal closures are illustrated as dotted lines.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross sectional view of a fully closed bag containing the user. View is from the head end.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top plan view of the sleeping bag with one side open. This illustration also shows the user's relationship to the bag and the working parts of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the interior of the upper part of the front of the bag, taken from the perspective of a user before the hood is secured in place.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is primarily intended for use in what is commonly known as a mummy type sleeping bag. Mummy type sleeping bags are insulated with various natural and synthetic fibers such as down or polyester fibers and are sized to accommodate a human body by being narrow at the area intended to accommodate the feet, wider at the hip and shoulder areas and narrower at the head area. An opening at the head area is typically provided with a hood that covers the head except for the face which has the hood closely fitted to the face with an appropriate drawstring closure system.

As best shown in FIG. 1, sleeping bag 1 has a conventional head end portion 2 with a hood region 3 and a foot end portion 4. The full-length or continuous zip fastener 5 closing the entry opening of the sleeping bag extends along the side of the bag from the region of the foot end 4, starting in the area indicated by 6, and from extends up to the top of the region defined by the extended exterior flap 12. The extended exterior flap 12 is preferably made of the same material and is insulated with the same materials used to construct the body of the sleeping bag. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper end of the extended exterior wall flap is sized to extend past the zip fastener 5 in a transverse direction along line 6A and is preferably secured to a hook and eye closure system 15 at the top of the front wall of the sleeping bag. The hand engagable means 8 is provided on the interior wall of the extended exterior flap 12 and is intended to engage the users right hand and it may comprise a finger sized pocket sized to engage the fingers which is made of fabric, a gripable string or strap, a hand engagable grip made of metal or plastic which is sewn or adhesively bonded onto said interior wall of the extended exterior wall flap. The interior wall flap 11 is also optionally provided with hand engagable means 7 which may be the same as hand engagable means 8 except that it is intended to engage the left hand. The entire zip fastener 5 may be bordered on all sides by flaps 9 and 10 which are preferably made of snag proof materials such as 1000 Denier Cordura Plus Nylon. The zipper half 5 is located on the interior edge 11 a of the interior flap 11. The other zipper half 5 a is located on the exterior flap 12 at the point where the inside edge of the interior flap contacts the exterior flap 12. The extended exterior flap 12 may overlay the interior flap 11 by approximately 50 to 100% of the width of the front of the sleeping bag. In practice a 12″-16″ overlay ending at edge 12A is effective and the top edge 12B of the extended exterior flap may terminate at a location which extends up to the vicinity of the face opening 13 at the head end 2 of the sleeping bag. The preferred hand engagable means 7 and 8 are right and left hand pockets, which are located in the neck area below the face opening 13 of the head end 2. The right hand pocket 8 is backed with a hook and eye closure device such as a Velcro® system which is located adjacent to the face opening 13, which is preferably on the left side of face opening 13. An optional full length longitudinally oriented hook and eye strip 14 & 14 a, or similar draft closure system, may be located along exterior flap edge 12 a and the outer wall of interior flap 11. A single draw cord 16 is positioned on the exterior of face opening 13 where it passes through a sewn sleeve 16 as best seen in FIG. 4. The sewn sleeve 16 begins near the right hand pocket 8 and continues adjacent to the perimeter of the face opening 13, and terminates at a hole 17 on the left side of the hood 3 where its end is exposed. The draw cord 16 may be of elastic material, and has a plastic clamp, or any other form of draw-cord clamp, on the exposed end. Additional draw cords or alternate drawcord configurations may be used to maximize the fit of the hood to the user's head. All of the previously described parts and mechanisms may be reversed for a left side zipper configuration.

In a preferred embodiment, the user utilizes the hand pockets 7 and 8 to create opposing forces to the area at the neck below the face opening 13 and secures the hood 3 in place using the hook and loop closure 15 & 8 as best shown by line 6 a in FIG. 3. The hook patch 15 is preferably made larger than the loop backing on right hand-pocket 8 so that the connection between them can be made in different places, allowing users of different sizes to adjust the hood to fit. The draw cord 16 allows for fine adjustment of face opening 13, providing a tight seal around the face. The opening and closing of the zip fastener 5 may be completely independent of the securing of the hood 3 to the users head, thereby allowing the user to reach outside of the bag without completely disengaging from it. In addition, the zip fastener will have a minimum of heat loss as it is located at the base of a preferred 12″ overlaid baffle formed by flaps 11 and 12. The outer shell fabric may be one of many typically used in sleeping bags, such as basic nylon, or any one of the commercially available waterproof breathable fabrics. There may be a neck baffle to prevent bodily heat loss through the head end of the bag. 

1. A sleeping bag having a hood closure system wherein said closure system comprises and interior flap and an extended exterior flap having a hand engagable means on an interior wall for grasping the exterior flap and allowing it to be placed over a longitudinally positioned zipper, said extended exterior flap held in place by a hook and eye closure system which is placed in close proximity to the head end of the bag where a hood is positioned on the users head.
 2. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 1 where the sleeping bag is a mummy sleeping bag.
 3. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 2 where the extended exterior flap is insulated with a insulating material.
 4. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 2 where a hand engagable means is positioned on the inside of said interior flap.
 5. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 4 where the hand engageable means is a finger size pocket
 6. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 4 where the hand engageable means is a fabric, plastic, or metal hand-sized loop.
 7. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 4 where the hand engageable means is a fabric, plastic, or metal hand-sized flap.
 8. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 4 where the hand engageable means is a hand size pocket
 9. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 2 where an optional hand engaging means is positioned on the inside of said exterior flap.
 10. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 9 where the hand engageable means is a finger size pocket.
 11. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 9 where the hand engageable means is a fabric, plastic, or metal hand-sized loop.
 12. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 9 where the hand engageable means is a fabric, plastic, or metal hand-sized flap.
 13. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 9 where the hand engageable means is a hand size pocket
 14. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 2 where an optional hook and eye closure system is positioned at the exterior edge of said exterior flap.
 15. A sleeping bag as defined in claim 2 where the hand engageable portion of the hood draw-cord is located on the exterior of the bag. 